Knitting
by Geeky Blue Strawberry
Summary: Harry is acting strange and his friends are worried. Hermione goes to get Dumbledore, but he doesn't seem too worried...what's going on?


I felt like writing something silly. So I did.

Disclaimer: Not mine –tear-

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Harry was sitting on the floor in the middle of the Gryffindor Common Room. He had some green yarn and his favorite needles out, and he was knitting his fingers into stubs. He wasn't knitting anything in particular, just a big sheet of twisty and loopy. Humming to himself, Harry sat oblivious to his surroundings.

Two figures were sitting a few meters away, glancing at their best friend worryingly. Ron and Hermione had been watching him for a good three hours. The day had started off normally… The trio had gone down to breakfast where they wished Fred and George a happy birthday, went to class, had lunch, went to class again; but dinner was when things had started to seem a tad off. Instead of picking at his plate like he usually did during these troubled times, Harry shoveled food down his throat as if he hadn't eaten in days. Ron had to thump him on his back lest he choke to death, but he kept on gorging himself. Then after dinner, instead of working on the three foot essay Snape had assigned them, he bolted up to his room and came back five minutes later, knitting in hand, and plopped down on the floor where he hadn't moved since. To be sure, Ron and Hermione, even Ginny, had tried to get him to talk, but the most they could get out of him was a high-pitched mush of gibberish.

Ron turned his head slightly toward Hermione, but didn't take his eyes off the boy knitting furiously in front of him. "What do you think we should do now?"

"I don't know…" Hermione's voice had a panicked overtone. "He's never acted like this before."

"You don't think," said Ron, turning to face Hermione full on, "that he's finally snapped, do you? I mean, think about it." The redhead stood from his chair and walked toward his friend. Harry took no notice when Ron kneeled down beside him and looked straight into his face. "See, he's got this wild look in his eyes. Come here Hermione, look at this…"

Hermione stood up tentatively and did as she was told. "That's kind of scary..."

"All the pressure must've caught up with him," replied Ron knowingly.

Raising her arm slowly, Hermione rested her hand on Harry's shoulder. He hardly faltered in his stitching. She shook him lightly.

Without looking up, Harry said, "Sup sup, Hermy G."

Ron's eye gave a funny twitch and Hermione looked utterly bewildered.

"Hey, you've gotten him to say something!" Ron and Hermione looked up and saw that Ginny had returned from her room unnoticed, and was now sitting down on the unoccupied side of Harry. Hermione stared at her incredulously and replied, "But he called me Hermy G.! Where did that come from?"

"Maybe he's delusional," suggested Ginny. "Harry…" She slowly reached forward and took away his knitting. "Harry, do you know what you're doing?"

Harry's eyes followed his creation and he answered simply, "I'm knitting."

"Why?"

"I'm knitting."

"I know that Harry, but why are you knitting?"

"_I'm knitting._"

Ron rolled his eyes at his little sister and gave a small sigh of annoyance before saying, "Can't you see that he wants his knitting back?"

With a blink of astonishment, Hermione asked, "Ron, what on earth do you think you're doing?"

"I…" Ron blinked. "Sorry."

Silence fell over the four friends. Harry sat perfectly still, eyeing the green woven yarn that was resting in Ginny's lap. Ron was shifting his gaze back and forth between the two, a blank expression gracing his features. Hermione didn't know what to do or think anymore. Should she go to Dumbledore and see what he could do? Or maybe she could sneak into the library and do a little research…

"KNITTINGGG!"

The shrill cry broke the silence. Harry had jerked his upper body into the air and dove for Ginny's lap. Too startled to move, she let him lie there, and he started to knit where he had left off.

Ron was frozen solid. The thought of his best friend and savior of the wizarding world lying in his baby sister's lap knitting was too much for him to bear. He promptly fainted.

"That's it!" exclaimed Hermione, quickly standing up. "I can't _take_ this anymore! I'm going to find Dumbledore. Ginny, you stay here and make sure Ron doesn't follow in Harry's footsteps. And please stay put…I don't want Harry to hurt himself!" And with that, her mass of bushy hair disappeared out of the Common Room.

Hermione all but ran to the gargoyle that guarded the Headmaster's office. Panting heavily as she approached, she said, "Acid Pops!"

The gargoyle stepped aside. Taking the stairs two at a time, she reached the large doors and knocked before letting herself in the room. Dumbledore was seated at his desk, picking apart some lemon drops. He looked up when Hermione burst in.

"Ah, Miss Granger. What can I do for you this evening?" The aging man had that trademark twinkle in his blue eyes.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, it's Harry…He was acting all weird at dinner, just shoving his face with food and he never does that and then in the Common Room after dinner he just started _knitting_ and acting even more strange and now Ron's fainted and Harry's in Ginny's lap and…"

"My dear Miss Granger, do calm down. Take a deep breath…" Hermione complied. "…and now tell me exactly what the problem is. When I was his age, I loved to knit. A very rewarding hobby, if I do say so myself."

Hermione looked at the professor strangely before saying, "Harry isn't being himself and we're worried about him."

Dumbledore unstuck some extra sticky lemon drops and offered one to Hermione who accepted and started nervously licking it. After popping one in his own mouth, the professor looked at Hermione closely.

"This is what I want you to do." Hermione leaned forward eagerly. "Go back to your Common Room, and pack up your stuff for the night."

Hermione blinked.

"What?"

"I'll come with you." Dumbledore stood up and walked around his desk. "Lead the way, Miss Granger!"

Even more confused than before, Hermione automatically started walking to and out the door. When the duo had finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Hermione came to her senses and turned to face the headmaster.

"I think I should warn y…"

"Lead the way, Miss Granger."

Without another word Hermione spun around and said the password. Upon entering, the Gryffindor stopped dead in her tracks. Harry was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes rested on Ginny (who had revived Ron and gotten him onto a nearby couch) and she marched over to her, Dumbledore in tow.

"I thought I told you to stay put!" Hermione fumed. "Where did Harry go? Is he alright?"

Ron groaned and covered his face at the noise. Hermione sounded like a shrill train blast at the moment. "Thanks for your concern, _Hermy_."

The girl in question glared at her friend before rounding on Ginny again. "Well?"

Ginny looked calmly up at Hermione and said, "As soon as you left, he stood up, said he was going to bed for the night, and left in that direction." She pointed toward the staircase leading to the boy's dormitory.

"Have you gone insane! He could hurt himself!" Hermione sat down and rested her head in her hands.

"Might I suggest something, Miss Granger?" Professor Dumbledore advanced to address all three students. "Why don't we all go up to Harry, and see if anything is truly out of place. Agreed?"

Ron contracted a look of pure confusion, replying, "To see if anything is truly out of place? Sir, he's gone completely mental!"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I'll take that as a yes. Shall we?" He gestured that the Gryffindors go before him.

With another groan, Ron stood up and led the way, followed by Hermione, then Ginny, leaving Dumbledore to take the rear. Filing into the sixth year rooms, they found the curtains around Harry's bed drawn shut. His knitting lay on his bedside table. They surrounded his bed and Dumbledore took out his wand to unveil a seemingly sleeping Harry. Sitting down next to him, the headmaster leaned down.

"Harry? Are you conscious?"

Hermione gave a small gasp as she saw Harry's head turn toward Dumbledore. "What is it professor?" he asked almost groggily.

"Miss Granger, Miss Weasley, and Mr. Weasley here seem to think that you were acting quite strangely this evening. Is this true?"

Harry turned to see his friends and took on a puzzled face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

BOOM. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all started protesting at once.

"Whudduya mean you don't know what we're talking about! You've been insane since dinner…"

"You were knitting all evening Harry, how can you possibly justify a denial…"

"I've been worried sick about you and you know it! I can't believe you have the audacity…"

The three were silenced when they saw Harry doubled over in laughter and Dumbledore chuckling to himself. Hermione felt like crying, and Ron nearly fainted again. But Ginny, after a moment of silence, grinned to herself.

Between gasps for breath, Harry choked out, "Y-you completely," –giggle- "_fell_ for it! Hahaha…"

"I would just like to say," smiled Dumbledore, "Happy April Fool's Day."

One more moment of silence came from the three students, and then Ginny burst out laughing while Ron started smacking his forehead against Harry's bedpost. Hermione let out a kind of relieved laugh and sat down on the other side of the laughing boy. She looked between Harry and Dumbledore, shaking her head, then said, "I can't _believe_ you two would _do_ something like this to us! To _me_!"

Wiping his eyes, Harry gave another small giggle and answered, "It just needed to be done…Everyone's been so uptight lately even _I_ couldn't stand it. And I figured if I planned this, Professor Dumbledore here would want to be in on it, so I asked him to help." He looked at Hermione and said, "I just _knew_ you were going to go to him!" He started laughing again.

"You bloody scared me, mate," breathed Ron when he had finished bruising himself. "Why couldn't you let me in on it?"

"Knowing you, I'm sure Harry figured you'd slip up at some point," giggled Ginny. "That was brilliant Harry." Ron glared at his sister.

With laughter still in his eyes, Dumbledore stood and said, "Well, it's getting a tick late." He chuckled to himself again. "I'll be off to bed. Do wish the twins a happy birthday from me." And with a wink, the headmaster strode out of the dorm.

Ron groaned for a third time that night. "I'm such an idiot…"

"Yeah you are," Ginny grinned.

"…shut up."

Hermione stood up as well. "I guess we all should have realized what was happening. We did know what day it was…"

"You all should have seen your expressions! I wish I had a camera…" Harry grinned wistfully.

Shaking his head, Ron grinned at his best friend. "I agree though, we did need that." He went over to get his pajamas from his drawer. "I'm going to turn in."

"Alright," said Hermione. "Come on Ginny, we have to get up in the morning. We should get some sleep too."

With a quick goodnight, the girls left the boy's dorm for their own. Once Harry had calmed down and Ron had slid under his covers, everything was silent. They soon fell asleep.

XxX

A few hours later Ron woke up, needing to use the bathroom and to get a glass of water. Since he had been asleep, he didn't bother to pay any attention to his surroundings until he had done his business and was making his way back to bed. Just as he was about to lie down again, he heard a strange clicking noise. He followed the noise over to Harry's bed. After trying to determine what the noise was in vain, he stuck his head around the curtain to take a peak.

Harry was sitting up in bed, calmly knitting his green thing.

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Anyone figure out the clue at the beginning? XP Please review! 


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